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VISIONARIES

Anni Albers (1899-1994) was a textile artist trained at the Bauhaus. In 1932, Anni and her husband Josef Albers fled Germany and moved to North Carolina, where they were invited to teach at Black Mountain College. Anni Albers was... MORE »

Collector Forrest L. Merrill has a deep appreciation for all manner of hand-wrought vessels of wood, metal, glass, fiber, and clay, as well as for the exceptional artists who create them. But even more important are the personal relationships... MORE »

Kay Sekimachi is a fiber artist and weaver, known as a “weaver’s weaver” for her unusual use of the loom in constructing three-dimensional sculptural pieces. In the early 1970s she used nylon monofilament to create hanging quadruple tubular woven... MORE »

Jack Lenor Larsen is a textile designer, and an author/collector/ promoter of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship in all its forms. The “Larsen Look” (colors, materials, and weaves that are synonymous with modern 20th century design) was begun with his... MORE »

CALIFORNIA

Corine Pearce is a Pomo basket weaver from Redwood Valley, CA. Throughout the history of the Pomo people, baskets were the essential tool of life and Pomo baskets are among the best in the world by fact of their... MORE »

Deborah Cross is a textile artist designing wearable art in Freedom, CA near Santa Cruz. Working with the interplay of fabric and the body, she considers beauty and comfort while constructing unique garments that are wondrously varied in their... MORE »

Judson Studios is a fine arts studio specializing in stained glass, located in the Arroyo Seco area of Los Angeles, CA. Judson is the oldest family-run stained glass studio in America still making exquisite handcrafted glass, now under the... MORE »

John “Jack” Ipekjian (b. 1983 Pasadena, Ca) graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in American history and then joined ICW in 2006. Since then he has tried to learn as much as he can from his father.... MORE »

James “Jim” Ipekjian established Ipekjian Custom Woodwork in 1972. He graduated from Pasadena City College with training as a machinist and subsequently worked in the aerospace industry. This provided a valuable skill set which would later strengthen his woodworking... MORE »

NEIGHBORS

The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) is a non-profit community arts center based in Venice, California. According to its mission statement, “SPARC espouses public art as an organizing tool for addressing contemporary issues, fostering cross-cultural understanding and... MORE »

The Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca (State Museum of Popular Art of Oaxaca) or MEAPO is a small museum in San Bartolo Coyotepec just south of the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is run by the state of... MORE »

Before I am an artist I am a craftsman… My work is about intersecting experiences and the rediscovery and shaping of relics into new forms as a way of self-questioning. Many things can exist as relics. In my vocabulary... MORE »

Cristina Romo began designing in silver at the age of five. Her grandfather Antonio, trained by the renowned silversmith William Spratling, later departed to establish his own workshop outside of Taxco. Cristina’s mother, Emilia Castillo, is a celebrated silversmith... MORE »

Eduardo Herrera, architect and designer, explored many artistic fields before committing himself to goldsmithing and designing jewelry. His designs are inspired by nature and architectural elements which he translates into silver, gold and tumbaga, an alloy of gold and... MORE »

Miguel Angel Ortiz Miranda’s father Jorge was a maestro in William Spratling’s legendary silver workshop in Taxco. Taking inspiration from his father, Miguel Ángel is a gifted designer and jeweler, winning numerous prestigious national awards for jewelry design and... MORE »

Carmen Tapia, designer, preserves and refines her family’s tradition of fabricating jewelry in metals and stones. Carmen has won numerous prizes in significant jewelry design competitions in Mexico and the U.S., her work has been exhibited in galleries, museums,... MORE »

Judy Baca, world-renowned painter and muralist, community arts pioneer, scholar and educator, has taught art in the University of California system for over 28 years, including 15 years at UCLA Cesar E. Chavez Department of Chicana/o Studies. She founded... MORE »

Magdalena Pedro Martínez is an outstanding barro negro ceramist, in the tradition of her family in San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Trained as a medical doctor, she also devotes time to ceramics, specializing in female figures dressed in the... MORE »

Carlomagno Pedro Martínez is a Mexican ceramic artist from San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, a Zapotec town famous for producing barro negro, polished black pottery. Carlomagno comes from a long line of ceramic artists and as a young child,... MORE »

For millennia, numerous cultures have used the ceramic medium to record their existence. From these artifacts, we can form an understanding and various interpretations of the cultural paradigms, socio political practices, mythologies, and the human experience of the worlds... MORE »

BORDERS

Jim Bassler was introduced to the textile traditions at an early age from his father. The Cold War strategies gave him the opportunity to see the world and introduced him to the craft traditions of Europe, the Middle East,... MORE »

El Taller Arte Papel of Oaxaca is a paper-making cooperative founded in 1998 by Francisco Toledo. After refurbishing the former Hidroeléctrica La Soledad, a 19th century hydroelectric plant that once provided all of Oaxaca’s electricity, Toledo set up the... MORE »

The Textile Museum of Oaxaca offers an overview about textiles from Oaxaca, Mexico and the world. The museum promotes textile diversification as for design, texture, techniques and creative processes. The aim is to link tradition, the present times, craftsmanship,... MORE »

Self-Help Graphics & Art, Inc. is a community arts center in East Los Angeles, California. Formed during the cultural renaissance that accompanied the Chicano Movement, Self Help Graphics, was one of the primary centers that incubated the nascent Chicano... MORE »

J. Isaac Vásquez García, master weaver and dyer, the eldest living member of the one of the oldest weaving families in Teotitlán del Valle, México, pioneered the renaissance of using pre-Hispanic natural dyes on pure wool. Isaac’s three sons,... MORE »

Kiff Slemmons is an artist who creates sculptural jewelry in paper and metal. During a trip to Mexico, Slemmons saw the jewelry in Tomb 7 at Monte Albán and it sparked her interest in non-precious jewelry materials. Slemmon’s metal jewelry... MORE »

Ceramic artist Veralee Bassler first took clay in hand around the age of 15 in a favorite high school class, ceramics. Several years later, she graduated from UCLA Art Department with a concentration in ceramics. Veralee then began a... MORE »

Alejandro de Ávila Blomberg, botanist and anthropologist, is the Director of the Ethnobotanical Garden in Oaxaca, México, established in 1993 with the help of artist Francisco Toledo. This unique museum tells the history of the plants and people of... MORE »

Francisco Toledo, known in Oaxaca as El Maestro, is regarded by many as Mexico’s most important and provocative living artist. He has been instrumental in building a series of highly successful public cultural institutions in Oaxaca, the city he... MORE »

We all suffer three deaths, the first death is the day that we give our last breath, the day that we die. Our second death is the day that we are buried, never to be seen on the... MORE »

NATURE

﻿ Preston Singletary is a Tlingit glass artist. Singletary transfers Tlingit designs, traditionally carved in wood, onto glass. He studied at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Light is integral to his work, and he uses it to... MORE »

Mary Merkel-Hess grew up in the farmlands of Iowa, where she still lives and works. Studying both metalsmithing and fiber for her undergraduate degrees, Merkel-Hess received an MFA in metalsmithing from the University of Iowa under the tutelage of Professor Chunghi Choo.... MORE »

Michelle Holzapfel is a self-taught woodturner and carver. She creates vases, bowls, boxes, and still life sculpture from local hardwoods like burls, unmanageable crotches, gnarled branches, center rotten trunks that are left behind in the forest after logging operations have... MORE »

Patrick Dougherty is a sculptor who weaves tree saplings into site specific sculptural installations. Dougherty’s interest in carpentry and love of nature inspired him to experiment with tree saplings and learn about building techniques. In 1982, he created his first work, Maple Body... MORE »

Catherine Alice Michaelis is a book artist who works near the South Salish Sea in Washington. Michaelis incorporates letterpress printing, book design, and other printing techniques into her work, including eco-printing. Michaelis is inspired by plants and uses them to... MORE »

TEACHERS

The mission of the Idyllwild Arts Foundation is changing lives through the transformative power of art. The Idyllwild Arts Academy provides pre-professional training in the arts and a comprehensive college preparatory curriculum to a diverse student body of gifted... MORE »

Alfred was founded in 1836 by Seventh Day Baptists as a non-sectarian institution. Unusual for the time, the school was co-educational. It was also racially integrated, and enrolled its first African American student and two Native American students in the... MORE »

Punahou School was built on the lands of Ka Punahou, named for the fabled natural spring discovered centuries ago under a hala tree. The spring still flows today, at the heart of Punahou’s campus under the Thurston Memorial Chapel,... MORE »

Lynda Teller Pete is a 5th generation Navajo weaver who is known for weaving in the traditional Two Grey Hills pattern. Her father, Sam Teller, worked at the Two Grey Hills Trading Post in New Mexico, where she was... MORE »

Barbara Teller Ornelas is a 5th generation Master Navajo weaver who specializes in Two Grey Hills style pieces. Her father, Sam Teller, worked at the Two Grey Hills Trading Post in New Mexico, where she was raised with her... MORE »

Therman Statom (b. 1953) is a glass artist currently living in Omaha, NE. Statom is best known for his painted ladders, houses, chairs, etc., constructed out of plate glass, blown glass objects, plywood, and found objects. He studied glass at Pilchuck... MORE »

Linda Sikora is a potter and Professor at Alfred University. Sikora is known for her jars and teapots, which she thoughtfully crafts. Sikora received her MFA from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and her BFA from the Nova Scotia College... MORE »

﻿ Matthew Metz is a potter who works and resides in Alfred, New York. Metz received a BFA from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and MFA from Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. From 1989 to 1991 he was a resident... MORE »

﻿ Wayne Higby is a ceramic artist, Professor of Ceramic Art at Alfred University, and Director of the Alfred University Ceramic Museum. Higby’s unique vision of the American Landscape and its manifestation in work ranging from vessel form to tile,... MORE »

Matt Kelleher is a studio potter who creates soda-fired tableware as well as sculptural forms. After working as a studio potter in North Carolina as well as participating in residences at Penland School of Crafts, Archie Bray Foundation, Kelleher... MORE »

Mark Mitsuda was born and raised in Honolulu, HI. He learned the art of glassblowing in high school at Punahou School, working under the tutelage of Hugh Jenkins. Mitsuda continued his studies at the New York State College of... MORE »

Hugh Jenkins has worked in glass since 1969. He got his first introduction to glass blowing and the Foundry in Honolulu. He brought glass blowing into the Punahou School art department in 1972 and continued to teach there until... MORE »

MUSIC

Joseph Pereira, Principal Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2007, composer and teacher, has appeared in some of the world’s greatest orchestras and can be heard on numerous recordings and soundtracks to major motion pictures. Working closely with... MORE »

Jason Ginter is a timpanist, percussionist, educator as well as the owner of JGpercussion, a company specializing in high-quality mallets and percussion products. A native of Elyria, Ohio, Jason began playing the drums at age 12. He currently serves on... MORE »

Rhiannon Giddens is a gifted Grammy-winner, African American folk music interpreter and revivalist. Featured in the MUSIC episode of Craft in America, Giddens plays a Jim Hartel Levi Brown style minstrel banjo. Giddens recently featured in a performance at the... MORE »

In the 17th century, slaves transported from Africa to America began making early banjos based on indigenous African instruments. The banjo has since developed into a versatile instrument used in many styles of music: Bluegrass, Dixieland, Country, and Classical.... MORE »

Geoff Stelling has spent the past 40 years perfecting his five-string Bluegrass banjos, from the patented wedge-fitted pot assembly up to the pivot-pin tailpiece. His designs assures the best possible tone ring and flange to wood rim fit possible... MORE »

For renowned composer/musician Tony Ellis (Circleville, OH) who comes out of Bluegrass and Old Time music, a Stelling banjo is his choice. Named a “Pioneer of Bluegrass Music” by the International Bluegrass Music Museum, his experimental compositions have paired... MORE »

Now in their 30th year of inventing, designing and hand-crafting custom brass instruments and mouthpieces, the David G. Monette Corporation (Portland, OR) has developed a holistic philosophy taking into account the player, the instrument, the performance space and the... MORE »

Scotty Barnhart is a jazz trumpeter featured in the MUSIC episode. In the episode, Barnhart works with David Monette to create a custom decorated trumpet. Barnhart is a trumpeter, composer, educator, author, and after 20 years with The Count Basie Orchestra, was... MORE »

C.F Martin & Co. has been creating the finest instruments in the world since 1833. It continues to innovate, introducing techniques and features that have become industry standards including X-bracing, the 14-fret guitar and the “Dreadnought” size. One of... MORE »

Joan Baez, musician and political activist, often performs with only a guitar to accompany her clear strong voice, her Martin guitar. Since the landmark 1959 Newport Folk Festival, Baez has been at the forefront of and witness to significant... MORE »

Four generations of luthiers preserve the Hawaiian heritage craft of making extraordinary ukuleles at Kamaka Hawaii, Inc. (Honolulu, HI). World renowned for their outstanding tonal characteristics, these instruments are collected and played by the finest ukulele musicians in the world,... MORE »

At the age of four, Jake Shimabukuro started playing the ukulele, quickly developing a unique fast and complex finger style. In 2006, his version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral on YouTube. He travels the world year-round... MORE »

CELEBRATION

In Chicago, artist Babatunde has been making kinaras, the candleholders for Kwanzaa celebrations, for more than forty years. Based on African harvest celebrations, Kwanzaa is a time of self-affirmation and reflection for African American communities and families. At Chicago... MORE »

Yoshiko Yamamoto’s love of Japanese ukiyo-e informs her blockprint and letterpress art that she creates at The Arts and Crafts Press in Tacoma, WA. Letterpress printing is a relief process, the oldest form of printing, and Yoshiko is self-taught in... MORE »

Motawi Tileworks was founded in 1992 by Nawal Motawi, who started out making tiles in her garage and selling them at the local farmers market. Utilizing Toyota-style production techniques (kanban), Motawi sells tiles to over 400 stores across the... MORE »

At 18, Jeff Lee started his martial arts training and was quickly attracted to the ancient philosophy underpinning Chinese martial arts. His training gravitated towards Taiji Quan. Further practice in Bagua Zhang lead him to the study of traditional... MORE »

Thomas Chun was immersed in a community of Chinese performing arts since childhood. Merely following his parents’ weekend routine, Chun eventually joined as a dancer and musician. He expanded his repertoire with martial arts and after joining a team,... MORE »

Jared Young has been involved in Chinese performing arts since early childhood. He started Chinese folk dance at a young age and his interest expanded to Chinese martial arts. Later he became involved with Chinese Opera—which makes sense because... MORE »

Travis Lum is a seasoned Chinese lion dancer, martial artist, and designer. Inspired by the staccato, vigor, and excitement of the lions seen in his youth, his appreciation and knowledge for this centuries-old art has only grown. Drawing parallels between his career... MORE »

An early interest in Chinese arts led martial artist and historian Corey Chan to train in the ancient Chinese New Year lion dance performed annually to bring good fortune. Chan is the Director of Kei Lun Martial Arts, dedicated... MORE »

In San Francisco, the Chinese New Year festival has grown to be the largest celebration of Asian culture outside of Asia. Started in 1860 by Chinese immigrants to America, the 150-year-old tradition of celebrating the Chinese New Year with a parade continues... MORE »

Yumei Hou is a sculptor and renowned master of the ancient Chinese art of paper cutting. Hou has dedicated decades to learning, perfecting, and passing on the art of paper cutting in China and the United States. Her talent... MORE »

Pewabic has been a beacon for artists since 1905, producing museum quality ceramics in Detroit for over 100 years. Long honored for its museum quality ceramics with a unique iridescent glaze, Pewabic is now one of only two active... MORE »

SERVICE

The Clay Studio is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of the ceramic arts. It is a nationally recognized arts institution that supports emerging ceramic artists, the work of new and continuing artists, and learners at every level of proficiency, with a focus on broadening ceramic... MORE »

Peter Voulkos (1924-2002) was a ceramist most known for his abstract expressionist sculptures. He received his BS from the Montana State College, Bozeman and received his MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College... MORE »

J.B. Blunk (1926-2002) was a sculptor known primarily for working in wood. After serving in the United States Army in Korea, he met sculptor Isamu Noguchi in Japan and served apprenticeships with Japanese potter Kitaoji Rosanjin and potter and Living... MORE »

Arthur “Art” Espenet Carpenter (1920-2006) was a woodworker, who was declared a “living California treasure” in 1984. He is most well known for his sleek and distinctive furniture, especially his wishbone chair and desk with scalloped seashell sides. Inspired... MORE »

Harvey K. Littleton (1922-2013) was a glass artist and educator, who is considered a pioneer in the Studio Glass Movement. His work ranged from functional vessels to sculptural forms. His father was a physicist at Corning Glass Works so... MORE »

Ramona Solberg (1921-2005) was a jeweler, who was born in Watertown, SD, but lived and taught in Seattle. She was a pioneer in the contemporary jewelry movement. Solberg rarely used precious metals, preferring found objects and incorporating ethnic elements... MORE »

William Daley (b.1925) is a ceramic artist known for his large, unglazed stoneware vessels. After surviving prison camp during World War II, Daley went on to attend The Massachusetts College of Art in Boston where, under the G.I. Bill,... MORE »

Pam DeLuco, a papermaker and owner of Shotwell Paper Mill (San Francisco, CA), is the architect of the project Paper Dolls: stories from women who served which contains 20 stories spanning more than 40 years of service and all... MORE »

Judas Recendez is a ceramic artist who spent his youth in sunny Visalia, CA, surfing, hiking and exploring an interest in fine art and ceramics. Recendez is a U.S. Army Veteran of the Iraq War who participated in 2... MORE »

Ehren Tool is a ceramic artist and Senior Laboratory Mechanician at the Ceramic Department at University of California, Berkeley, and Marine Veteran of the 1991 Gulf War. Tool was greatly influenced by American expressionist ceramic sculptor, Peter Voulkos. Tool... MORE »

Eugene Burks Jr. is a 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and a saddler. Burks learned many aspects of his leather craft from his grandmother, a dressmaker. Trained in canvas and light textile repair, Burks worked in the... MORE »

INDUSTRY

Lowell’s Boat Shop & Museum is America’s oldest operating boat shop, a national landmark and working museum whose mission is “to preserve and perpetuate the art and craft of wooden boat building and promote the history of Lowell’s Boat... MORE »

Bethanne Knudson is the Design Director and CEO of The Oriole Mill and a fiber artist. For many years, Knudson trained textile designers to use software for Jacquard looms, and in 2000, opened the Jacquard Center in Hendersonville, NC,... MORE »

Libby O’Bryan is the owner of the manufacturing enterprise Sew Co. housed within The Oriole Mill in an effort to preserve the skill of sewing and new model for our domestic production economy. O’Bryan developed her practice following a... MORE »

Graham McKay is a boat builder and manager at Lowell’s Boat Shop. McKay built his first boat in high school and has explored and mastered myriad aspects of the maritime industry, professional sailing, as well as many facets of... MORE »

Born in 1931, just north of Gee’s Bend, AL, Lucy Mingo grew up picking crops, cooking for her family, and walking four miles to and from school each day. She worked many jobs through the years, all the while... MORE »

Mary Ann Pettway, manager of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective, learned to quilt as a young child from her mother. She made her first quilt for the collective in the summer of 2005. The seventh of 12 children, Mary... MORE »

Joe Cunningham began making quilts professionally in 1979 after a ten-year career as a musician in Michigan. Cunningham’s life is steeped in the study of quilt history and a love of traditional technique from which he has developed a... MORE »

Jan Lee is a designer, furniture maker and Asian antiques dealer who uses, whenever possible, reclaimed materials such as antique bamboo and hardwood from responsible foreign and domestic sources. In addition to the antiques, Jan Lee provides interior design... MORE »

Originally from Oahu, Hawaii, Shane Yamane pursued his love of gemstones and handcrafting fine jewelry in New York City. A fully trained and developed artist, his focus is on form and proportion. His custom designs are classic, clean and... MORE »

HOLIDAY

The Biltmore House, built in 1895, is the largest privately owned home in the United States boasting a magnificent estate with 250 rooms and 8,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At Christmas, the grand home is adorned with... MORE »

In 1992, the Gingerbread Competition began as a small, mostly local event held at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC, and has now grown to become one of the country’s most beloved holiday traditions and a serious competition... MORE »

Located in the mountains of western North Carolina, the John C. Campbell Folk School offers week long and weekend courses in traditional craft, fine art, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography, storytelling and writing. Founded in 1925, the... MORE »

Harley Refsal is an internationally recognized figure carver, specializing in Scandinavian flat-plane wood carving. Raised in Minnesota, he has lived in Norway in the 1960s and 1980s, and traveled extensively throughout Scandinavia. Refsal, who speaks fluent Norwegian, has shared... MORE »

Susan Garson grew up knowing that she would lead a life in the arts. When she began her master’s work at UCLA, she was drawn to ceramics and decided to use her newly found love of hand building united... MORE »

Veronica Castillo is a ceramic artist who crafts exquisitely detailed, brightly colored folk art objects using centuries-old methods and symbols. She is a member of the honored Castillo Orta folk art family of Izucar de Matamoros in Puebla, Mexico,... MORE »

Kathleen Trenchard has researched and worked in traditional Mexican papel picado (punched paper) ever since the early ‘90s when she was introduced to the technique in Huixcolotla, Mexico. Her work explores contemporary designs, applications and materials suitable for cut... MORE »

Gini Garcia is a glass blower, designer and founder of Garcia Art Glass. Commissioned by both public institutions and private corporations, she has completed more than 50 site-specific works. Garcia also creates dignitary gifts and countless residential commissions worldwide.... MORE »

Isabel and Enrique Sánchez have been active in the Chicano pride movement which started in San Antonio in the late 1960s. They continue to pass on family traditions and culture to their children and grandchildren. They are parents to... MORE »

Garcia Art Glass was founded by Gini Garcia in 1998 and is now a family-run hot glass design and fabrication studio that specializes in one-of-a-kind blown glass lighting and sculpture. Designs range from functional to the whimsical and are... MORE »

FORGE

Davide Prete is a sculptor and architect who specializes in urban scale works using stainless steel and forged steel. Prete wants to connect traditional technique with modern shapes. For this reason he loves to work with iron forging but... MORE »

Jeremiah Holland is a sculptor whose work explores topographical and architectural forms through sculpture in wood. His approach reflects sculpture as furniture and borrows from natural and commonplace architectonic forms. Holland received a BFA at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, DC. ... MORE »

Tom Pullin served in the U.S. Army for almost twenty-five years and has brought his service to his art. He says, reminiscent of his training in the military, “It would be impossible to work with metal and not have... MORE »

Albert Paley is a metal sculptor and artist. Beginning as a goldsmith, Paley’s work has evolved through time and technology to a monumental scale. From first mental image, to drawings, to cardboard models, to CAD (computer-aided design) maquette, to... MORE »

Geoffrey Blake was born in Kittery, ME and grew up in Hampton, NH. Blake became intrigued with hand making sterling silver products during a visit to Old Newbury Crafters in his teens. After four years in the Air Force,... MORE »

Chloe Darke is of the generation fueling the DIY movement, hungry to explore and savor the act of making, driven to create. Having studied metalsmithing and jewelry at Maine College of Art, she now produces fine sterling place settings... MORE »

The craft of silversmithing in New England existed even before America’s most patriotic silversmith, Paul Revere, made his famous ride. Old Newbury Crafters in Amesbury, MA was one of the best at the time. Fourteen generations later, it is... MORE »

CROSSROADS

Warren MacKenzie (1924-2018) was one of America’s greatest potters and an inspiration to younger generations. Having apprenticed at the Leach Pottery in 1952, MacKenzie brought the Mingei aesthetic to the St. Croix Valley where it took root and spread.... MORE »

Gail Kendall is a ceramic artist whose work is influenced by European earthenware pottery and porcelain traditions from the 13th through 18th centuries. Kendall is an Emeritus Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. www.gailkendall.com

Jeff Oestreich was trained in the austere simplicity of traditional Asian pottery while serving as apprentice to Bernard Leach in England in the 1960s. Driven to achieve a personal style, he overlaid this foundation with a passion for Art... MORE »

Clary Illian is a potter who lives in Ely, Iowa. Illian apprenticed at Leach Pottery in England from 1964-65. Hewing to the Leach philosophy, her subsequent work concentrated on the purity of the pot’s form and the potter’s life... MORE »

Lia Cook is a fiber artist who combines weaving, painting, photography and digital technology to create her work. Cook’s work attempts to shatter restrictive theories about craft, art, science and technology. Her focus is on the history and meaning... MORE »

Tanya Aguiñiga grew up in both San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico, a bi-cultural artist whose quest is to create a dialogue between two very different cultural experiences in her craft-based artistic expression. Having learned her trade from vastly... MORE »

THREADS

Internationally celebrated artist, teacher, and author, Faith Ringgold is best known for her painted story quilts – art that combines painting, quilted fabric and storytelling. Her famous quilt, Tar Beach, resides at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New... MORE »

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood is most well known for her textiles and installation work which represents her own history as a migrant agricultural worker, signifying her hybrid culture as well as the arbitrary lines that divide her homes. Artistic expression... MORE »

Terese Agnew’s work has evolved from sculpture to densely embroidered quilts by a process she calls drawing with thread. Her themes are environmental and social. Her most notable quilt to date is the Portrait of a Textile Worker, constructed... MORE »

Randall Darwall (1948-2017) was a master colorist and weaver whose hallmark is an extraordinarily refined aesthetic, and one of contemporary craft’s finest weavers, bringing an intelligence and liveliness to his work. He saw his goal as “not just making... MORE »

FAMILY

﻿ Preston Singletary is a Tlingit glass artist. Singletary transfers Tlingit designs, traditionally carved in wood, onto glass. He studied at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Light is integral to his work, and he uses it to... MORE »

Cliff Lee is a ceramic artist who works in Pennsylvania creating forms that mimics natural, creating imagery of flowers, gourds, leaves. As a young man Lee studied medicine and became a successful neurosurgeon but became a potter in the... MORE »

Holly Lee is a metalsmith who creates one-of-a-kind pieces using gold, silver, precious and semi-precious stones. She creates pieces that are hollow constructed, pierced and hand-drilled. These drilled forms create texture and a sense of light passing through space.... MORE »

Dante Marioni is a glass artist most well known for his freely blown, colorful, tall, and thin vessel forms. His work is influenced in its form by the Venetian tradition. He attended Pilchuck Glass School, Colorado Mountain College, and... MORE »

Marina Marioni is a self taught jewelry artist who comes from an artistic family. Marina creates jewelry that often plays with form and meaning, much like her father’s (Paul Marioni) sculptures often play with visual puns. Marina has experience... MORE »

Paul Marioni is a glass artist whose work is about human nature and is often inspired by his dreams. Known as an innovator in the glass world, Marioni pushes his techniques to their limits, regularly redefining what is possible... MORE »

﻿ Lisa Sorrell learned to sew clothing at age twelve. By the time she was fifteen she was both designing her own clothing and sewing professionally. In 1990, when she was 20, she moved from Missouri to Guthrie, Oklahoma.... MORE »

Ed Moulthrop (1916-2003) was a self taught woodturner, known as the father of modern woodturning. His interest in wood began as a child and he bought his first lathe when he was a teenager. Although he studied to become... MORE »

Matt Moulthrop is a woodturner and son of Philip Moulthrop and grandson of Ed Moulthrop. Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Matt turned his first bowl at the age of 7. Completing his BA at the... MORE »

Philip Moulthrop is a woodturner who works in Marietta, Georgia. He started woodturning in 1979, learning the woodturning basics from his father, Ed Moulthrop. Philip is most famous for his mosaic bowls and pioneering his composite technique. He received... MORE »

MESSAGES

Charles M. Carrillo is an artist, author, and archaeologist known particularly for creating art using Spanish colonial techniques that reflect 18th century Spanish New Mexico. Carrillo has blended craft, conservation, and innovation throughout his career as a santero, a... MORE »

Beth Lipman is a glass artist working in Wisconsin. Her work explores the symbolism of 17th century still life paintings through glimmering creations made of clear glass, symbolizing wealth and consumerism. Since earning her BFA from Tyler School of... MORE »

Joyce J. Scott is a versatile artist from Baltimore, Maryland. She is a printmaker, weaver, sculptor, performance artist, and educator, but she is probably most well known for her work in jewelry, beadwork, and glass. Her art reflects her... MORE »

Thomas Mann is an artist who works in the medium of jewelry and sculpture. The primary design vocabulary which he employs in the making of jewelry objects combines industrial aesthetics and materials with evocative romantic themes and imagery. He... MORE »

PROCESS

After completing a degree in printmaking at the University of California, Berkeley, Julie Chen became intrigued by the language, equipment, and materials of Book Arts and entered the Book Arts program at Mills College. Book Arts encompass binding, letterpress,... MORE »

Tom Killion was born and raised in Mill Valley, California, on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais. The rugged scenery of Marin County and Northern California inspired him from an early age, creating landscape prints using wood, linoleum blocks and... MORE »

Dave and Roberta Williamson are jewelers who live in Berea, OH. The Williamsons create jewelry that combines ephemera and found objects, some of which has been passed down in their families, and others found at the many flea markets... MORE »

Miguel Gómez-Ibáñez has combined a first career practicing architecture with his North Bennet Street School training as a cabinet maker to become a nationally recognized designer and maker of studio furniture. He has contributed articles and essays on furniture... MORE »

Cary Esser is a ceramic artist who works in Kansas City, Missouri. She creates architectural tiles and terra cotta details using the language of architectural ornament to interpret human culture and the natural world. Esser received her BFA from... MORE »

Nikki Lewis (b. 1976) is a ceramic artist who works in Los Angeles, CA. “I like to get dirty,” she says, explaining her long-standing love for making all things clay. She throws exquisite delicate functional work that feature intricate... MORE »

Kansas City Art Institute is a four year college of arts and design in Kansas City, MO. KCAI offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, in which a comprehensive liberal arts program is complemented, in 14 programs including ceramics,... MORE »

North Bennet Street School has been training people for employment in the crafts since 1885. Pauline Agassiz Shaw, the school’s founder, was a visionary educator and proponent of the Swedish system of manual training known as “sloyd”. The sloyd... MORE »

The 92nd Street Y was founded in 1874 and its School of the Arts, which began in 1930, has been a seminal part of New York’s craft education for decades, even training artists under the GI Bill. (For more... MORE »

ORIGINS

Jim Bassler was introduced to the textile traditions at an early age from his father. The Cold War strategies gave him the opportunity to see the world and introduced him to the craft traditions of Europe, the Middle East,... MORE »

Teri Greeves is a beadwork artist who lives in Santa Fe, NM. She is enrolled in the Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma. Teri follows and updates the Kiowa tradition of beadwork, to tell the story of the American Indian,... MORE »

Mark Hewitt is a potter, who was born in England. Although his father and grandfather were the directors of Spode, a fine china manufacturing company, he decided to become a studio potter instead of an industry manager. He received... MORE »

New Jersey’s Salem Community College, which opened as the Salem County Technical Institute in 1958, offers the only Scientific Glass Technology associate degree program in the United States. This degree provides students with the necessary skills and techniques to... MORE »

Katherine Stankard Campbell is a glass artist who resides in Southern New Jersey. After earning her BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Campbell entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was awarded an MFA... MORE »

Christine Stankard Kressley is a glass artist who resides in Southern New Jersey. Under the mastery of international studio glass artist, Paul J. Stankard, Christine creates glass paperweights, continuing the American Paperweight tradition. Growing up in the Stankard home,... MORE »

Paul J. Stankard is a glass artist living in Mantua, NJ, an area where glass has been produced since 1739. Paul follows in the tradition of centuries-old European lampwork, elevating the practice of flamework to the highest art form... MORE »

Bayle grew up in a family working in craft (Vernon, Pam and Travis Owens) who own Jugtown Pottery, an American Craft Shop located in Seagrove, NC. As a child, she spent a large amount of time around the... MORE »

Pam’s pottery studies began with seven years of pottery apprenticeship, the traditional method of pottery study. Beginning in 1975, she studied for two years at High Mowing School, a small Waldorf School in New Hampshire, under the guidance of... MORE »

Vernon Owens is a native of Seagrove in Moore County, NC. His roots in pottery go back four to five generations. Vernon grew up working in his father’s shop, M.L. Owens, absorbing the style and shapes. In the late... MORE »

Travis, the son of Vernon and Pam Owens began working with clay as soon as he could walk and grew up learning the craft from his family. Travis received a BA in Art and Design at North Carolina State... MORE »

Jugtown Pottery, a working pottery and an American Craft Shop, is located in Seagrove, NC in the community of Westmore and was started in 1917. It is just off Busbee Road, a road named for Jacques and Juliana Busbee,... MORE »

The American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, SC was created in 1998. A team inspired by legendary master blacksmith Philip Simmons and led by John Paul Huguley wanted to solve the problem that became evident when Hurricane... MORE »

Philip Simmons (1912–2009) was a renowned blacksmith in Charleston, SC. Enticed by the sparks flying in a blacksmith shop he passed on his way to school, he became an apprentice at the early age of 13 in the shop... MORE »

Joseph Pringle (b. 1943), better known as “Ronnie,” was born and raised in Charleston, SC. He fell in love with the blacksmith shop at an early age while visiting his cousin, Philip Simmons, practically every day. He loved his... MORE »

Carlton Simmons (b. 1959), a nephew of the master blacksmith, Philip Simmons (1912-2009), enjoys the free style design in iron with an eye on nature. He went into the blacksmith shop at the age of 13 also – the... MORE »

COMMUNITY

The Smithsonian Women’s Committee (SWC) is a volunteer grant-making organization dedicated to advancing the Smithsonian mission to increase and diffuse knowledge. The SWC produces two annual signature events, the Smithsonian Craft Show (April) and the Craft2Wear (October), which serve to promote fine American craft... MORE »

Ken Loeber is a jeweler who works in Algoma, WI, where he lives with his wife, Dona Look and their son, Reid. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee with his BFA in 1970 and MFA in 1978... MORE »

Dona Look is a basket maker who works in Algoma, WI, where she lives with her husband, Ken Loeber and their son, Reid. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 1970. She collects bark from the region’s... MORE »

Lapidary Samuel Wallace (1936-2010) worked with his wife Denise Wallace (b. 1957 in Seattle, WA), a jeweler of Native Alaskan Aleut descent. She maintains and modifies a walrus-ivory carving tradition. Their work has been in the collections of the... MORE »

Denise Wallace is a jewelry artist of Native Alaskan Aleut descent, who worked with her husband, Samuel Wallace (1936-2010). She maintains and modifies a walrus-ivory carving tradition. Wallace is most well known for her elaborate belts which depict people,... MORE »

Mississippi Cultural Crossroads is a local arts agency located in Port Gibson, MS. Mississippi Cultural Crossroads is a performing arts center, and has been involved in documenting the culture of the community for over 25 years, providing summer and... MORE »

Hystercine Rankin (1929-2010) learned quilting from her grandmother at the age of 12 and started making quilts to keep her family warm. She made traditional quilts like the log cabin, but created her own unique versions of them, utilizing... MORE »

Geraldine Nash learned to quilt after being hired to babysit while the students and mothers learned to quilt. “…after I got the job the parents came but they didn’t bring their kids. So, Miss Rankin told me to... MORE »

Edwina Bringle who lives and works in Penland, NC. As a fiber artist she is known for her use of color and design in her woven textiles and free motion embroidered pieces. Bringle also runs a gallery with her... MORE »

Cynthia Bringle is a ceramic artist, who lives and works in Penland, North Carolina. Although she is most well known for her ceramics, she is also a painter and printmaker. She earned a BFA from Memphis Academy of Art and... MORE »

Penland School of Crafts, located in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, was founded as a national center for craft education in 1929 by Lucy Morgan. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious handicraft schools in America. Miss Lucy,... MORE »

Sarah Jaeger is a potter who works in Helena, MT. She received a BA from Harvard College and a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. Jaeger creates functional porcelain pottery, often thrown and altered, and glazed using wax... MORE »

The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts is a public, nonprofit, educational institution founded in 1951 by brickmaker Archie Bray, who intended it to be “a place to make available for all who are seriously interested in any... MORE »

Dale Chihuly (b. 1941, Tacoma, WA) is a glassblower, who resides in Seattle, Washington. Exploring color and form in his work, he is known for his organic, large scale installations and multi-part compositions. Chihuly studied interior design at the... MORE »

Jamex de la Torre and Einar de la Torre are sculptors who primarily works in glass. The brothers moved to California in 1972 and graduated from California State University Long Beach. Their unique work is based on their Mexican-American... MORE »

Pilchuck Glass School was founded in 1971 by Dale Chihuly, Anne Gould Hauberg, and John H. Hauberg. Through the years, Pilchuck has been a primary force in the evolution of glass as a means of artistic expression and has become... MORE »

﻿ Preston Singletary is a Tlingit glass artist. Singletary transfers Tlingit designs, traditionally carved in wood, onto glass. He studied at the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. Light is integral to his work, and he uses it to... MORE »

LANDSCAPE

Kit Carson is an artist and jeweler, who lives and works at Cactus Camp in New River, AZ with his wife, artist Aryana B. Londir. Carson grew up on a dude ranch with supportive and energetic parents. He later... MORE »

David Gurney is a potter and painter. He received his MA in Ceramics from California State University, Fullerton. He now lives on California’s Central Coast. His work is influenced by nature, food, Mexican folk art, and his childhood, growing... MORE »

George Nakashima (1905-1990) was a woodworker, born in Spokane, WA. He attended the University of Washington and received his Masters in Architecture from MIT. During WWII, he was placed in an internment camp where he learned woodworking from a... MORE »

Mira Nakashima is following her father’s (George Nakashima) path by becoming a woodworker. She attended Harvard University and received a Masters degree in Architecture from Waseda University in Tokyo. She worked with her father for many years as a... MORE »

Richard Notkin is a ceramic artist who works in Helena, MT. Influenced by the tradition of Yixing pottery, his work is a vehicle for political commentary. He received his BFA from Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from... MORE »

Jan Yager is an artist and mixed-media jeweler. She received a BFA from Western Michigan University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work is known for its close observation of nature, reference to colonial... MORE »

Timberline Lodge was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936 in Northern Oregon. It was dedicated in September 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he declared it a venture made possible by the WPA to represent new... MORE »

MEMORY

Garry Knox Bennett is a furniture maker who works in Oakland, CA. He attended the California College of Arts and Crafts (currently California College of the Arts) where he learned to paint and sculpt. In the 1960s, he used... MORE »

Pat Courtney Gold is a basket maker influenced by her ancestors, the Wasco Indians. Her work is based on the baskets of her ancestors using the full turn twine technique but she experiments with different materials (cattail leaves, tule,... MORE »

Tom Joyce is a blacksmith who works in Santa Fe, NM. At the age of 13, he became an apprentice to a blacksmith and at 16 he dropped out of school to dedicate his life to metalsmithing. Tom constructs... MORE »

Mary Jackson is a basket maker who lives in Charleston, SC with her husband, Stoney. She makes sweetgrass baskets that come out of a tradition that has been passed down from her ancestors. It originated in West Africa, and... MORE »

Sam Maloof (1916-2009) was a self taught furniture maker and woodworker who worked and lived in Alta Loma, CA. He married his first wife, Alfreda Ward (d. 1998) in 1948 and together they founded the Sam and Alfreda Maloof... MORE »

Gerhardt Knodel (b. 1940) is a fiber artist and former director at Cranbrook Academy of Art and the former Fiber Department head. Knodel’s work with fiber includes installations, theater, architectural commissions, and the pictorial potential of weaving. He graduated... MORE »